THE BAIN MARIE.
BARBEL.
Ingredients.—½ pint of port wine, a saltspoonful of salt, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 2 sliced onions, a faggot of sweet herbs, nutmeg and mace to taste, the juice of a lemon, 2 anchovies; 1 or 2 barbels, according to size. Mode.—Boil the barbels in salt and water till done; pour off some of the water, and to the remainder put the ingredients mentioned above. Simmer gently for ½ hour or rather more, and strain. Put in the fish, heat it gradually, but do not let it boil, or it will be broken. Time.—Altogether 1 hour. Sufficient for 4 persons. Seasonable from September to November.
BARBERRIES (Berberis vulgaris).
A fruit of such great acidity, that even birds refuse to eat it. In this respect, it nearly approaches the tamarind. When boiled with sugar, it makes a very agreeable preserve or jelly, according to the different modes of preparing it. Barberries are also used as a dry sweetmeat, and in sugarplums or comfits; are pickled with vinegar, and are used for various culinary purposes. They are well calculated to allay heat and thirst in persons afflicted with fevers. The berries, arranged on bunches of nicely curled parsley, make an exceedingly pretty garnish for supper dishes, particularly for white meats, like boiled fowl à la Béchamel, the three colours, scarlet, green, and white, contrasting well, and producing a very good effect.
BARBERRIES, to preserve in Bunches.
Ingredients.—1 pint of syrup, barberries. Mode.—Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, 3 inches long and ¼ inch wide, and tie the fruit on to these in nice bunches. Have ready some clear syrup (see [Syrup]); put in the barberries, and simmer them in it for 2 successive days, boiling them for nearly ½ hour each day, and covering them each time with the syrup when cold. When the fruit looks perfectly clear it is sufficiently done, and should be stowed away in pots, with the syrup poured over, or the fruit may be candied. Time.—½ hour to simmer each day. Seasonable in autumn.
BARLEY SOUP.
Ingredients.—2 lbs. of shin of beef, ¼ lb. of pearl barley, a large bunch of parsley, 4 onions, 6 potatoes, salt and pepper, 4 quarts of water. Mode.—Put in all the ingredients, and simmer gently for 3 hours. Time.—3 hours. Average cost, 2½d. per quart. Seasonable all the year, but more suitable for winter.